H-1B Prevailing Wage Calculator: Do Your Company’s Wages Comply With New Rules?

Want to know how the increased prevailing wage floors could affect your workforce? Skip the math. Our calculator applies the proposed multipliers to any SOC code, metro area, and wage level. Enter the role and location, and it returns the current floor, the proposed new floor, and the gap.

H-1B prevailing wage impact calculator with metro adjustment — DOL NPRM March 2026

How to use the DOL prevailing wage calculator

Step 1: Start with national average wages from real H-1B filings

The calculator has a built-in database of average salaries that employers actually reported when they filed H-1B paperwork in recent years. These are national averages — meaning they combine all the wages reported across every city and state into a single baseline number for each occupation and experience level. For example, Computer Programmers at Level II have a national baseline of $88,143 based on thousands of actual Labor Condition Applications filed by employers.

Step 2: Adjust that national baseline for your specific metro area

Since a Software Developer in San Francisco earns much more than one in Atlanta, the calculator looks up the latest government wage data (BLS OEWS May 2024) to see how your metro compares to the national picture. It calculates a ratio: your metro’s median wage for that job divided by the median-of-medians across 20 major metros. If San Francisco’s ratio is 1.40, the calculator multiplies that $88,143 baseline by 1.40 to get your metro-adjusted current floor of about $123,400. This step adds back the geographic variation that was averaged away in Step 1.

Step 3: Estimate the proposed rule’s impact using the same approach

The government’s proposed rule would change how wage levels are calculated — specifically shifting Level II from the 34th percentile to the 52nd percentile of wages (about a 24-25% increase). The calculator applies those same percentage increases to the national baseline, then applies your metro ratio to that new number. So it’s calculating: (national baseline × proposed rule multiplier × your metro ratio) to show what the new floor would be.

Step 4: Compare to what you’re actually paying

Finally, the calculator takes the salary you enter and shows whether it clears the metro-adjusted current floor, the metro-adjusted proposed floor, both, or neither.

Important context: This tool projects wages under a DOL proposed rule published March 27, 2026 (91 FR 15454), which has not been finalized and is not currently in effect. Today’s actual H-1B prevailing wage obligations remain at the existing 17th/34th/50th/67th percentile levels. The proposed rule may be finalized as proposed, modified, withdrawn, or set aside through litigation. The numbers here should not be used to assess current compliance.